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Europe

Medicine is pork to Muslims

2005-09-13

Thousands of unsuspecting Muslims break one of the Koran's most important commandments every day and consume pig meat, as most prescription medicine contains gelatine made of hog's hide, daily newspaper Urban reported. 'There is gelatine in almost every capsule and tablet today. It's also possible to process gelatine from cattle products, but because of the risk of mad cow disease, pig gelatine is the most frequent ingredient in medicine,' said department chief of the Danish Medicine Agency, Finn Clemmensen.

Oh, well. Guess they might as well become Lutherans.

Fahmy Almajid, immigration consultant, said he found the discovery shocking. 'I've never heard before that medicines contain pork residues, and the average Muslim doesn't have a clue, either,' he said. 'Since Muslims will do anything in their power to avoid eating pig, I find it grotesque that doctors do not warn them about it.'

I find it grotesque that Moose limbs are sensitive about everything under the sun, except when it comes to chopping people's heads off...

Michael Dupont, chairman of the Organisation of Practicing Doctors, however, rejected the idea. 'This is the limit,' he said. 'They can ask about this at the pharmacy or read the ingredients list. We can't spend our time on that. There's a limit to everything.'

"Tell them to go to hell!"

Almajid said the medical industry was responsible as well, but Lise Rud, chairman of the Medical Industry Association's technical and environmental committee, said ingredients in medicines would not be altered because of religious sensitivities. 'Up until we find something better than pig gelatine, it will continue to be the most frequently used kind. And as long as we haven't heard that this is a problem, we won't work on changing it,' she said.

I'm sure you'll hear lots of squalling over what a problem it is. Of course, they could just not take the medicine, couldn't they?

I'm sure the high-tech medical industrial complex in Lahore will come up with a solution ...

Almajid, however, said he feared Muslims would even die rather than eating pills containing pig products. He said the Koran allowed people to consume pork if it was essential to survive, and doctors needed to explain to their patients that they might in fact develop life-threatening diseases unless they took their medicine.

If they'd rather croak than consume a gel cap, let 'em. No skin off my fore.

Western medicine is a Zionist plot. Ev'rybody knows that.

Posted by:DanNY

#15 Pork - the other white meat - it's not just a noun anymore

Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-13 21:32

#14 well the kashrut medicine question is a bit more complicated than that

First of all, there is a question of whether geletin made from pig hooves is really a pork product. Many of the rabbis say 'no' (most of the Israeli rabbis say 'no'). There was a very famous American rabbi (Joel Solovechik) who said 'yes' so most Kashrut labelling organizations do not give certification to products using geletin made with pig hooves.

This is somewhat similar to the aspirin problem where the coating of the aspinin comes from calcium extracted from the shells of shellfish.

prescription medicines are considered to be for the preservation of the soul (pichuach nefesh); however, non prescription medicines that are taken as 'good practise', such as vitamins are covered by the 'no pork rule'. There is a multivitamin available that doesn't use gelatin available by mail and many Jews and Muslims use this product.

Posted by: mhw 2005-09-13 19:09

#13 Lutefisk is cod soaked in lye (Drano), dried and then water added. This fits no known food group. Its of the object_class: drain cleaner.

Posted by: 3dc 2005-09-13 19:08

#12 Trailing Wife is right. I think the rules on pikuach nefesh were promulgated very early on, during the time when the Babylonian Talmud was being collected. Jews have no problems with pig-derived replacement heart valves, pig-derived medicine, not fasting when that would endanger the subject's help, and violating Shabbat rules to preserve life. The philosophy is that "The Law was made to live by, not to die by."

For example, Talmudic law prohibits a woman from fasting for three days after childbirth, and makes it optional for seven. Modern rules extend that to the entire pregnancy, of course.

The only three laws that may not be broken to preserve human life are the laws forbidding idolatry, murder, and adultery.

I once read a book on Judaism and medicine; Jewish writings on medical matters has always been very observant. One example is somewhat gruesome: the Rabbis ruled that if two brothers or maternal cousins suffer excess bleeding after their circumcisions, then their brothers and maternal cousins are exempted from the procedure. They may not have known the mechanism of the inheritance of [X-linked] hemophilia A, but they could see the problem clearly.

Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-09-13 18:32

#11 ...and the average Muslim doesn't have a clue, either

Oh, no! Not gonna touch that line. Like fish in a barrel!

Posted by: SteveS 2005-09-13 13:15

#10 "Oh, well. Guess they might as well become Lutherans."

No,no. Lutefisk is haram, too, I'm sure....

Posted by: Thavimp Gramp1194 2005-09-13 13:03

#9 Sometime during the Dark Ages, the rabbis ruled that, "Anything is permitted in the saving of a life." This would include not only pork-based pill capsules, but my father's ultra-Orthodox grandmother preparing the doctor-prescribed pork boullion with her own lovely hands (and kosher utensils!) when my father was severely ill as a toddler. In fact, the rabbis have forbidden adhering to Jewish law if to do so will put life in danger, except for choosing to cling to Judaism under threat of martyrdom. That becomes a matter of individual choice.

Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-13 12:35

#8 AAAAKKK, "Gummy Bears" I wondered why I've been staggering around lately, (I'm Doomed)

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-13 11:11

#7 Gummy bears are made from cattle so..... I will likely catch mad cow one of these days.

Posted by: 3dc 2005-09-13 08:49

#6 A vegetarian friend of mine once pointed out that, despite gelatin being made from animal products, most vegetarians ignore that fact. Something about the amount of processing it goes through essentially rendering it not-animal.

I suspect there's a similar judgement -- particularly in regards to medicine -- for Jews.

Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-09-13 07:42

#5 I welcome this Darwinian test of intelligence!

May those that don't like pigs die in droves, and that goes for everyone.

Posted by: Ulereger Clavigum6227 2005-09-13 07:25

#4 What about Kosher Jews?

Posted by: Abd Al-Sabour Shahin 2005-09-13 06:08

#3 I guess that strict Muslims are sh*t outta luck, unless they can feel comfortable with the special cases in the ~~Ops Manual~~ Q'u'o'r'a'''''n.

Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-09-13 02:26

#2 I'm curious just how "Religious" these idiots are, My bet is that this "Pork Gelatin" finding goes completely ignored.

They're only religious when their own comfort is not disturbed.

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-13 02:21

#1 Ask your doctor if pork products are right for you.

See our ad in Health Magazine.

Posted by: Chris W. 2005-09-13 00:54

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